Dd school attendance very low

[Schoolstress14]

66%

Due to lots of medical appts (didn’t think these were counted towards attendance?)

Frequent illness (severe gynae issues possible endometriosis?, Viral illness with very high fevers, one episode of d and v (lasted a week) and time off after a minor injury

Ive sent proof of everything as requested but now school want a meeting I can’t get more time off so explained it has to be a phone call as well but they’ve said I’m not engaging so they have to involve the LA? Can they do that ?

I’m glad you’re asking for a video conference, if that is rejected, provide the dates and times you could meet in person that don’t require you taking time off work (could DH go in his lunch hour if he’s WFH?).

In any case, once you have a date ask for an agenda to be sent at least 3 days in advance and request that it includes - 1) ways the school can help improve access to medical support; 2) How they can support DD’s learning when she is unable to attend.

OP have a look at the Equality Act 2010, regarding disability and reasonable adjustment. If DD’s condition meets the definition of disability under the Act, then the school have to make reasonable adjustment to meet her needs. You don’t actually need a diagnosis for this, as long as the effects of her condition meet the definition. They will then have to look at what they count as time off for sickness, and they won’t be able to count medical appointments or time off directly attributable to her condition. Also it might help with an application for medical tutoring.

Tips for increasing attendance - book your appointments mid morning. Take your child to school so they get their morning mark on the register, collect them for the appointment then return them to school for their afternoon mark. They are marked in all day but still had their appointment.

Where do you have the flexibility to choose NHS appointment times nowadays? That’s not something that’s common in my experience in London.

It’s not common anywhere. You can’t pick and choose, so this approach won’t always work. A disabled colleague of mine was told to do something like this by their manager when attending medical appointments. They were asked to come in to work before the appointment, even if it was only for ten minutes - advised that if they didn’t, it would count as absence. It turns out that they shouldn’t have been counting any medical appointment, or period off sick as absence if it was directly attributable to their disability. They should have been making reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act. I think the school may be somewhat at fault here if DD’s condition qualifies as a disability under the Act.

So sorry about the school being so harsh. As a lifelong endo/adenomyosis flooding and pain sufferer I had an awful time in secondary school.

I can’t see if you mention what pain relief your daughter is using but she should be able to take some codeine without prescription. Nurofen plus is a great help. Also taking paracetamol alongside that of course. If her cycle is regular she can start taking ibuprofen before it hurts. I don’t know why it helps! But it seems to!!

And serious iron supplements are so essential everyday.

There is a new product called Flo which uses CBD in their products to ease pain too.

Hi OP,
Medical appointments count towards attendance, even with evidence to support the appointments and illness. Any non-attendance at school counts, including funerals, appointments, holidays, illness. Medical appointments will be authorised absences. Other authorised absences include illness (physical or mental) which should be authorised unless the school suspects they’re not really ill enough to not attend (yes they can do this) so a GP letter will support ‘authorised’ as opposed to ‘unauthorised’ such as ‘feeling under the weather, slight cold etc, especially with persistent absences and extremely low attendance. Non-authorised attendance includes things like holidays, not coming in because a parent or sibling is too ill to get the child there. Schools record attendance twice within the day. Once in the morning at around 9am and once at the start of the afternoon session (around 1ish depending on when your school breaks for lunch). If your child is late to school in the morning after the registers close then that is as an absence too.
Schools have a duty and a legal obligation to report on and find out about attendance. It’s partially safeguarding and partially due to the fact that all children should be accessing full time education. It is usual practice to send out an attendance letter to anyone with attendance below 90%. It is also usual practice to follow this up with a meeting (or two) to see how school can support you in improving attendance. It is likely your child’s attendance has already been discussed with the LA Attendance team as it is so low, where school have been asked what they are doing to support you with attendance. A referral to the attendance team does not have to be a negative thing. When schools refer they will need to identify all of the things they have put in place and offered to you as support. One of them being a meeting. I think it is reasonable to ask for a remote meeting if you really are unable to attend due to work. If your child is able to attend for part of the day when they have appointments, they will obtain their attendance mark and attendance will improve.
Hope this helps!

Thankyou it is helpful I guess schools just have to prove to someone higher up that they are following procedures for certain things . It’s just frustrating for us when a call would be the same , I’ll keep trying to get them to agree to that but if not I’ll have to sort something out I just didn’t want to take more time off if I can help it 😭

The school have to follow policy and procedures. It’s likely they will engage in discussion in how to best offer support while your daughter stays in education. 66% is very low.

Also, and I say this kindly…..if neither you or DH/your daughter’s dad can’t fit a school meeting into your schedule do you honestly think you are best placed to consider home education?

They may be 'covering themselves' - well I'm not sure what from, given there is ample evidence already available to them to confirm absences are genuine, and if they are concerned to minimise the impact on OP's DDs wellbeing or education they should be facilitating supportive discussion with the OP and SENDCO, and bringing in the LA to provide medical needs alternative provision.

Given this is not what they appear to be doing, this does rather look like an attempt to intimidate the parent of a child with long term health conditions in order to try and reduce their adverse impact on their or the LA's attendance data? Far from covering themselves, responding to this situation punitively, may amount to direct or indirect disability discrimination.

They have to follow the Equality Act 2010, the SEND Code of Practice 2015, secondary legislation on school register markings.

How would HE help if your DD is too unwell to study? Or are you considering HE 66% of the time and nothing the rest? I think without parents available to HE that she’d be better in school. The fact that she is asking to HE suggests possibly she isn’t happy in school and may be using her genuine illnesses/ injuries to avoid attending when she would possibly be able to do so.

Education other than at school can help children manage chronic health conditions and learning because it can be delivered much more flexibly around things like fluctuating levels of pain.

It sounds like you've not had to think about this before,@Howmanysleepsnow ?

I totally agree. But they are more afraid of Ofsted suggesting they haven’t done enough or been robust enough than they concerned about OPs child. I’m not at all suggesting that is right. But that is the world we are living in.

Have all routes been investigated? Have you really fought? I'd fight the GP. Have they referred dd to gynaecologist? You says she couldn't take one medication, because of migraines, but is there no other option? If you go onto support groups do other mums have suggesting for what other medication could be requested.

You need to find out, toughen up and then play the game. Get all your info, go and see gynae specialist privately - (it can be a good idea to find out who your daughter has been referred to for her NHS referral l, which doctor, and then find out if they also do private appointments as well. because if you go and see them privately this can then thus speed up your NHS referral).

(only once may be enough for him to prescribe a medication and then if he writes to GP, saying its serious, this can be passed onto nhs gynae referral).

Might help?

Is dd 14? Is she year 9? Because either way you wanna try and make progress / get this sorted in the next six months because as of September she'll be year 10 doing GCSEs and she's never gonna pass GCSEs if she's only in lessons 66% of the time.

Have you chased up the nhs referral to consultant?

I would ensure to get the contraceptive pill in your situation. I'm not a doctor but have extensive experience of unmanageable periods and anaemia. At your dd's age, rigorous exercise and or the pill will help, the pill definitely as it can stop her periods altogether.

66% is way too low you need to tackle your dd's periods and get her back to school she is missing out.

I'd also add that at your dd's age I had episodes of intense abdominal pain and it turned out that it was due to my appendix, it had to be taken out. So get your dd to a gynaecologist, have a scan to rule out other issue and if it's really 'just' the periods the pill will be your best option. Although rigorous exercise can also help. But in your shoes I'd go straight for the pill .

Your dh works from home, why have you had to miss work when your dd was off sick? Wasn't her dad with her? I wouldn't be so reluctant to go in an have a conversation with the school. You mention home ed and tutoring, tutoring is expensive, can you not put that money to use for a private Gyn appointment?

There is nothing stopping you bringing in elements of HE now, that you mention, without stopping school altogether. It will help her keep up - it will also allow you to separate out "too ill to do school work" from the social elements of school that she dreads, such as the possibility of flooding.

I can't see a single good reason to HE, other than that you have the sense you will be in trouble with the school for her attendance. You can't teach her during school hours and any activities you would do together can still be done and any tutors hired can compliment her school work rather than either/or.

If you were taking these steps to keep her up to date with her coursework, it will help the school meeting.

I can't see a single good reason to HE, other than that you have the sense you will be in trouble with the school for her attendance.

That’s a big reason to HE. It removes worry and hostility from family life. It would also allow OP and DD to set a curriculum that they prefer to the national curriculum and to tackle it in an order and at a pace that suits DD - not something that is easy to do when trying to coordinate with a school you attend two thirds of the time that is hostile towards you. It also tends to be a lot faster to learn in an HE setting than in a school setting, so gives time back to DD during the week (rather than having to attend school).

I think the biggest issue would be socialization - schools provide a wealth of opportunities that can take a lot more effort to replicate when HEing for reasons other than difficulty with that aspect.

Because he was working !!! Back to back meetings and calls. Dd gets very distressed with the pain and often it’s something any teenage girl would rather their mum helped them with

Yes multiple times. We initially were told to contact them if we hadn’t heard by a certain date - that came and went so I called and was told she has been allocated to a consultant but the referral not processed yet ? So I’ve kept calling and they tell me to wait that they will contact us when an appt can be booked

Has your dd tried tranexamic acid for her periods if they're heavy? She could try the mini pill which is safe for most women and girls who have a history of migraines. The mini pill should get rid of the pain and she'll have fewer periods or none at all. Is the pain definitely gynaecological and not gastro?

Would trying the a contraceptive pill to manage your dd's periods be an option?